Hai Rui

Hai Rui (January 23, 1514 – November 13, 1587), courtesy name Ru Xian , art name Gang Feng , was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Ming dynasty, remembered as a model of honesty and integrity in office.

Biography

Hai Rui, was born in Haikou, Hainan on January 23, 1513. His father died when he was three, and he was raised by his Muslim mother. His great-great-grandfather was an Arab named Hai Da-er (, Haidar, an Arabic name), and his mother was from a Muslim (Hui) family with ancestry that originated from the Indian subcontinent. Hai himself however was noted primarily as a Neo-Confucianist and never discussed Islam in his Confucian works.

Hai took the Imperial examination but was unsuccessful, and his official career only began in 1553, when he was 39, with a humble position as clerk of education in Fujian. He gained a reputation for his uncompromising adherence to upright morality, scrupulous honesty, poverty, and fairness. This won him widespread popular support, evidenced among other things by his being enshrined while alive; but he also made many enemies in the bureaucracy. Nevertheless, he was called to the capital Beijing and promoted to the junior position of secretary of ministry of Revenue. In 1565, he submitted a memorial strongly criticizing the Jiajing Emperor for the neglect of his duties and bringing disaster to the country, for which he was sentenced to death in 1566. He was released after the Emperor died in early 1567.

Hai Rui was promoted to censor-in-chief of Nanjing in 1586, but died in office a year later. Yao's campaign led to the persecution and death of Wu Han, as well as others involved in related works, such as Zhou Xinfang for his opera Hai Rui Submits His Memorial .

While Wu Han considers Hai Rui to be a moral socialist, this was not necessarily the case. As historian Ray Huang puts it, "Though one might expect the moral interpretation of history to be generally discredited by now, this is not the case. Some modern historians tend to view the Confucian morality in of certain individuals in terms of the own sense of social justice. Wu Han, for instance, praises his hero Hai Jui for 'standing on the side of peasantry' in their conflict with the landlords. He also asserts that Hai, 'despite a hundred setbacks, still continued the struggle to build a socialist society."

Haikou, the largest city on Hai Rui's home island of Hainan, celebrates Hai Rui's deeds. A memorial has been constructed and his tomb is open for worship.